Waiting a year for the next season of Game of Thrones is always a test of endurance, but it looks like fans will have to hunker down and wait just a bit longer than usual. Winter has finally arrived in Westeros and in an effort to provide the most authentic appearance for the show the filming has been delayed in order to best capture the “grim, grey weather even in the sunnier places that we shoot”.

This news was delivered via a UFC Podcast where the showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss admitted, “No …we don’t have an air date yet, but this year it’ll probably be a bit later, ’cause we’re starting a bit later because at the end of this season, ‘winter is here,’ and that means that sunny weather doesn’t really serve our purposes anymore.” This meant pushing back production in order to film during winter which in turn pushes back the release date. Season 6 had the latest air date with April 24th and was not announced until January, mere months before it’s air date. The delay in the season release does provide fans more time to create wild new theories about how the show will end.

On top of having to wait longer for the next season it has been announced that the next seasons will be shorter with only 6 or 7 episodes per season. Benioff told Variety that “I think we’re down to our final 13 episodes after this season. We’re heading into the final lap”. With the smaller number of episodes comes a smaller list of directors for the season with only 4 being listed where normally there were 5 which seems to confirm the shorter season announcement.